Retirement of Select AHRQ QIs in Upcoming v2019 QI Software

By Martina Dolan on May 10, 2019

21 AHRQ Quality Indicators (QIs) are scheduled to be retired in the upcoming version 2019 of the AHRQ QI software. Version 2019 of the AHRQ QI software is expected to be released in the summer of 2019.

Indicators Retired in v2019 AHRQ QI Software as follows:

Prevention Quality Indicators

PQI 02 Perforated Appendix Admission Rate

PQI 09 Low Birth Weight Rate

PQI 10 Dehydration Admission Rate

Inpatient Quality Indicators:

IQI 01 Esophageal Resection Volume

IQI 02 Pancreatic Resection Volume

IQI 04 Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Repair Volume

IQI 05 Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) Volume

IQI 06 Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) Volume

IQI 07 Carotid Endarterectomy Volume

IQI 13 Craniotomy Mortality Rate

IQI 14 Hip Replacement Mortality Rate

Patient Safety Indicators:

PSI 16 Transfusion Reaction Count

Pediatric Quality Indicators:

NQI 01 Neonatal Iatrogenic Pneumothorax Rate

PDI 02 Pressure Ulcer Rate

PDI 03 Retained Surgical Item or Unretrieved Device Fragment Count

PDI 06 RACHS-1 Pediatric Heart Surgery Mortality Rate

PDI 07 RACHS-1 Pediatric Heart Surgery Volume

PDI 11 Postoperative Wound Dehiscence Rate

PDI 13 Transfusion Reaction Count

PDI 17 Perforated Appendix Admission Rate

PDI 19 Pediatric Safety for Selected Indicators Composite

Five (5) themes became the underlying basis for retirement:

Limited evidence base in the literature on the use of these indicators for quality improvement

Rarity of events – some indicators measure events that are so rare that the measure is no longer reliable or relevant for quality improvement

Advancement in medical technology – practice changes in terms of both where and how care is provided affect the validity and reliability of these indicators for quality improvement

Significant analytical work for refinement – some of these indicators would require significant analytical work, such as conducting validation work, and improvement of the specifications for ICD-10 CM/PCS for the purpose of quality improvement

Volume indicators –consensus amongst the evidence and TEP that volume indicators as standalone indicators are not useful for quality improvement. (However, users interested in volume will be able to calculate this number from the mortality rates denominators.)

Retirement of Select AHRQ QIs in Upcoming v2019 QI Software was last modified: May 10th, 2019 by Martina Dolan